This invention relates to a wheel supporter and a shaft for a golf cart, particularly to one having a simple structure for easy assemblage and collapsing.
Conventional golf carts are generally made collapsible, with a wheel supporter and shaft capable to be collapsed and assembled by a user, so as to be easily carried with a small dimensions or stored in a car trunk after collapsed.
Nowadays, there are two kinds of conventional wheel supporters and shafts for a golf cart.
A first kind of conventional wheel supporter and shaft is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, including a wheel supporter 1 consisting of a metal plate unit 11. The metal plate unit 11 has a pin 5 to pivotally connect a recover spring 4 and a push member 3, a shaft hole 111 for a shaft 21 of a wheel 2 to insert therein. The Push member 3 has a projecting pointed member 31 in an intermediate portion, a groove 32 under the pointed member 31, and an engage plate portion 33 formed in an upper portion. The recover spring 4 has one end hooked on the metal plate unit 11, and the other end hooked at a middle point of the push member 3, controlling engagement and disengagement of the groove 32 of the push member 3 and an annular groove 211 of the shaft 21.
This conventional wheel supporter and shaft is convenient in handling, but its structure is a little complicated for assembly or collapsing.
The second kind of conventional wheel supporter and shaft is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, including a wheel supporter 1, which has a rectangular opening 11 and an insert hole 12, a coil spring 13 contained in the opening 11, and an engage block 3 elastically urged by the coil spring 13 and normally located in the opening 11 to able to be half pushed out of the opening 11. The engage block 3 has a protruding hook 31 in a left longitudinal side of an outer block portion engaging an inner wall of the opening 11, and an L-shaped position hook 32 with a sloped surface extending inward from the outer block portion. A wheel shaft 20 has one end firmly connected to a wheel 2 and the other end portion 21 formed with a distal square end 23 facing the sloped surface of the L-shaped position hook 32 of the engage block 3 located in the wheel supporter 1, and an intermediate groove portion 22 to engage the L-shaped position hook 32.
In handling the second conventional wheel supporter and shaft, the wheel shaft 20 is inserted in the insert hole 12 of the wheel supporter 1, with the other end portion of the wheel shaft 20 engaging the L-shaped position hook 32 of the engage block 3, finishing assemblage of the wheel supporter 1 with the wheel shaft 20. On the contrary, if the wheel shaft 20 is to be pulled out of the wheel supporter 1, the push block 3 is pushed up (in FIG. 4, or inward) to compress the coil spring 13, forcing the L-shaped position hook 32 disengage from the other end portion 21 of the wheel shaft 20 to free the wheel shaft 20 from the wheel supporter 1.
However, the second conventional wheel supporter and shaft is also handy to handle, but its structure is also complicated for assembly and collapsing.